Columbus Park
2024
Mulberry Bend Park
Built in 1897 / Photojournalist Jacob Riis credited for his advocacy of creating the park in place of the tenements that stood here
1905
Blocks at Mulberry & Baxter
(Schematic render of the buildings that stood here, according to the footprints indicated on the 1894 fire insurance maps)
1894
Interview
WITH ERIC NG (FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE CHINESE CONSOLIDATED BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION)
Interview conducted in June and July 2022.
+ Tell me about your past tenures as president. When were you president of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA)?
In 1994-1995, I became the president of the Eng Family Association.
In 1996 to 1997, I was the president of Hip Sing Association.
From 1998 – 1999, I became the president of the Chinese Freemasons Association.
From 2000 to 2004, I became the president of the Hoy Sun Ning Yung Association.
I became the president of the Tak Ming Alumni Association from 2002 to 2011. I held the title for too long.
From 2004-2007, I became the (international) president of the Eng Family Association.
From 2006-2008, I became the first president of the CCBA. By that time, I had become the president of many associations already. Then, from 2014 – 2016, I held the second term of being president of the CCBA.
From 2012-2013, I was the national president of the Eng Family Association.
From 2016 to 2020, I became the national president of the Hip Sing Association.
From 2018 to 2020, I held a third term as the CCBA president.
So, I’m the guy who’s been involved in community business since I stepped in in 1994. I never stopped. I like to use whatever formula we use. I don’t want to change it because when a new president comes in and uses a new rule, this mixes up all the associations. I hate it. That’s why I talk to everybody: Follow the rules. When you follow the rules, no one complains about you. That’s why we call this the traditional association.
The bronze sculpture of Sun Yat-sen in Columbus Park. The east side of the pedestal is inscribed: “All Under Heaven Are Equal” in English and in Chinese, in Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s own calligraphy and his personal name stamp. Photographed in 2023.
+ What do you think are the most important things that you accomplished during your three terms as president of the CCBA?
During my first term:
I improved the accounting system. Usually, when the president asks about the expenses, they say – let me ask the accountant and I’ll let you know next week. Next week?!? When I started the board meetings, I said: Are there any questions? Let me report my accounting to you first. After the meeting, I asked again and there were no questions.
I also started this program collecting photos of past presidents for archival purposes.
During my second term:
At the time, the Second World War had ended 70 years ago already, so I made up a memorial [publication]. In one week, I collected the photos.
In 2005, I started a volunteer program to help people with applications for citizenship, applications for senior housing, affordable housing, rent-control, passport applications, reading English letters, social security, applying for free cell phones, applying for food stamps, etc.. Ms. Wong worked in social security before, so she would come every Wednesday to help answer questions.
Every month, we have a police conference here, starting from 2005.
During my third and last term:
I made a process for handling ancestry research when people pass away. We match up stories.
In 1994, Evergreen Cemetery wrote a letter to the CCBA, saying we still have around 150 bodies in the warehouse. By that time, they were bones already. They were supposed to be returned to China.
We put [the word] out in the newspaper and some were taken, but the remaining 100 we buried here. Every Ching Ming, we go there.
Most importantly – in 2019 – the major successful thing was putting up the statue of Dr. Sun Yat Sen in Columbus Park!! Before I stepped down, I finished the project.
Super important! This is the most important. In 2012, we set up the statue already and it was originally supposed to be put on Canal Street (this was done by another Eng president, not me). But later, the Parks Department didn’t want it to be in the triangle on Canal Street. They said that they could temporarily allow us to put it in Columbus Park.
In 2014, during my second term as president, the City wrote a letter to the CCBA. Gary and I went to Community Board 3 to fight for it – and CB3 approved for the statue to be safely placed in Columbus Park, but only temporarily. Since then, we kept fighting…
By 2018, we were against the prison going up in Chinatown. All of Chinatown has been against that since 2018. The mayor [Di Blasio] asked Margaret Chin, I want to come to Chinatown. Is anyone against me? She said: No problem – because on Chinese New Year Day we only say good words, no bad words! He came and announced on March 5, 2019 that the statue could be kept in the park.
Later on, step by step, we had to do all of the foundations. Finally, we donated $100,000 to the memorial fund to keep up the maintenance [of the sculpture].
COLUMBUS PARK - HISTORIC IMAGES
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1908 – 1914). Paradise Park & Mulbery [sic] Ben [sic] New York Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-8dd3-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Columbus Park in Chinatown, taken May 1976. Photograph by Emile Bocian, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection.
Detroit Publishing Co, C. C. & Detroit Publishing Co, P. (ca. 1905) Mulberry Bend, New York. New York United States Mulberry Street New York State, ca. 1905. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2016794945/.
Columbus Park in Chinatown, taken May 1976. Photograph by Emile Bocian, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA) Collection.
COLUMBUS PARK - PHOTOGRAPHS
Photographs taken between 2022 – 2024.